Victory News Magazine

The Role Of Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr In Shi'a Political Activism  In Iraq From 1958 TO 1980  

 Chapter Nine- Sadr Detained- Bint Al-Huda Gives Fiery Speech

Then the government, as Sadr anticipated, began to crackdown: Sadr’s representatives and hundreds of Da’wa members were rounded up and imprisoned or executed. Then Sadr himself was detained and taken to Baghdad. His sister, Amina al-Sadr, known as Bint al-Huda, went to the holy shrine of Imam Ali A.S. and gave a fiery speech urging people to demonstrate against the government and to protect their leader. As the news of his arrest spread, riots broke out in Baghdad, Basra, Diyala, Samawa, Kuwt, Diwaniyya, Karbala, and other cities. The bazaar in Najaf closed down; angry crowds clashed with the police. The whole city seemed under siege as the government increased its security efforts. The spread of violence in the country forced the regime to free Sadr the next day.

The detention of Sadr gave the Ba’th regime a clear idea of the extent of his support. His opposition to the regime had made him a national leader and a galvaniser of popular opinion, and his presence had become a threat to the survival of the regime. The Ba’thists therefore determined to cut him off from his allies, his ‘ulama’ and the rank and file of the Da’wa party. Muslim activists were arrested en masse, tortured, and executed, and the mosques the ‘ulama’ served were shut down. Even some prominent ‘ulama’ who usually cooperated with the regime and supported its policy were detained. The policy of the Ba’thist regime was not to spare any effective Shi’a religious forces in the country. Government documents show that the Revolutionary Court passed at least 258 death sentences out of twenty-two trials. ⁽⁶⁰⁾  

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